TagStandard

I spent last week in a bit of a funk over the impact of Damnation and having two virtually identical copies of the incredible Wrath of God in Standard and Extended. While I reached some conclusions on how creature decks can fight the expected increase in control decks, I wasn’t completely satisfied with going the smash-mouth haste route, and the flash creatures by and large aren’t exactly powerhouse cards. However, there is a silver lining for me in this new format – one of my “pet” strategies happens to thrive in Wrath of God dominated formats. Yep, I’m talking about Dredge, baby!

For his first Featured Writer column, Rivien brings us an interesting Standard deck that abuses land in a variety of different ways. While unlikely to kick down the doors of high-level tournament play, it contains a sackful of synergy and a pocketful of fun…

Chris takes a sabbatical from his normal All-Romeo Deckfest Love-In, and concentrates his budget ability on Other People’s Decklists. He casts his money-conscious eyes over successful builds, and evaluates their potency in the budget Standard metagame.

With Planar Chaos promising a great deal for the control-loving mages among us, Bennie asks a simple question: what now for the creature strategy? In the face of mass removal by the bucketload, is it possible to succeed with monsters in the face of so much horror? Benne looks back through history, and presents us with a few theories and decklists that may just work…

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Magic Show. I’m your host, Evan Erwin. Today we’re going to take a look at Wizards of the Coast’s own little money maker, Magic Online. I know I’ve spent a fortune on those untouchable digital objects, and there are new players joining every day. But what is there to know about the game online? How does it differ from the delicious paper we know and love?

Joshua continues his unconventional look at mono-colored strategies in the current Standard metagame. We’ve had Green and Black… today’s offerings are White and Red. Is the mono-colored strategy a real contender in this multicolored Magical age?

Blisterguy’s 43rd foray into the Magic Online Metagame sees him wax lyrical about both the Standard and Extended Premier Events on MTGO. While we all know of the popularity of Boros Deck Wins and Dragonstorm… what about Mono-Black Aggro? Blisterguy also revamps the card price data.

In today’s From Right Field, Chris Romeo admits a dirty little secret. No, it’s nothing to do with cheesecake… it’s an admission of a guilty pleasure with few redeeming qualities. It’s a pleasure that, if left unchecked, can mushroom out of all control. Intrigued? Then read on…

We have a lot of options in the current Standard metagame, especially in regard to the creation of colored mana. Indeed, the plethora of incredible multicolored lands at our disposal makes playing a mono-colored deck little more than Magical suicide… or does it? Joshua Claytor begs to differ…

A few months ago, I opined that Lord of Atlantis should have been re-Oracled the same way that Elvish Champion, Goblin King, and Lord of the Undead had been. In other words, they gained the creature type of the creatures over whom they ruled. Lord of Atlantis was reprinted in Time Spiral’s Timeshifted subset and got all of the trapping of being a true Lord. Yeah! That was the good news. The bad news is that he gets a whopping three other Merfolk to play with in Standard…

The winner of the StarCityGames.com 1K Open tournament is one that I did not expect… and to be honest, I’d dismissed it. Fader seemed to me like it was a one-hit wonder (much like Solar Pox was, in my mind at least), winning a few State championships and falling off the face of Standard.

I was wrong.

Last week, I had said my goal for this week was to get into a Premier Event, and try my hand at playing my theorized City Championships season deck “Snakes on a Desert” in a Standard tournament of at least some worth or impact. Lacking in other recourses during the holiday season, it seemed that Magic Online with its ever-in-motion Standard tournament cycle was to be the plan…